Dueling Épée; France, c. 1890

You’ll forgive an old épée fencer if the image load presented on this site seems weighted in favor of old dueling swords. Antique épées, especially the dueling variety, are quite rare when compared to the amount fencing foils available. Which is, of course, due to the fact that specialized fencing and dueling épées didn’t gain popularity until the mid-1800’s.

This weapon has a hand-perforated guard that could have been intended to snag an opponent’s sharp point.